


Passerine

by ForbiddenSnack



Series: Aves [1]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Birds, Ficlet, Gen, Homesickness, Mathias Shaw likes birds and you can't prove me wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26906518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForbiddenSnack/pseuds/ForbiddenSnack
Summary: I think Shaw would be a birdwatcher if he had the time to spare.
Relationships: Flynn Fairwind/Mathias Shaw (implied)
Series: Aves [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085474
Comments: 13
Kudos: 32





	Passerine

**Author's Note:**

> This drabble is sponsored by my extensive collection of useless bird facts.

Seagulls squalled overhead. The great gulls that infested the skies of Tirgarde were noisy, aggressive things, considerably larger than the ring-billed gulls that loitered around Stormwind Harbor. One landed on a nearby rock with a loud squawk, no doubt expecting food.

Shaking his head, Mathias glanced down to inspect the wood that was forming itself into a bird in his hands. Years, decades, spent whittling meant he could mostly do it without looking, which he often did to keep his mind from idling while his eyes kept a careful watch on his surroundings. But the smaller details, such as the crest of this pine jay, sometimes took a bit more finessing than he was able to achieve by feel alone.

He frowned at the carving, turning it in his palm. Something about it didn’t look quite like the image of the jay that he conjured from memory. It was a bird he was familiar with. They visited the SI:7 courtyard sometimes, watching the training dummies with bright curiosity and squabbling with the robins over the trees when they bore fruit in autumn. Pressing his blade into the crown, he pared away the wood with a practiced motion to accentuate the feathers there. Better.

He missed the passerines that called the forests of Elwynn home, as he did. The songs of finches made for a much more amiable start to the day than the screeching of seagulls in Boralus. The chickadees, too, made good company. Their melodic two-note calls would turn into a distinctive  _ chicka-dee-dee-dee _ when they were alarmed, which lent itself as a warning of other animals - or people - approaching. Even the sparrows, which Mathias had thought of as rather dull for a bird, always managed to calm his thoughts with their pleasant chittering outside his office in Old Town. He wasn’t sure he'd heard anything of the sort since they arrived in Kul Tiras. Only the constant squawking of gulls, which served nothing but to annoy him.

The song of a red-winged blackbird rang in the distance. To the untrained ear, it was just another sound of nature, but Mathias recognized it as a bird not native to the islands here. A signal from one of his agents that the area was clear for advancement. It fell a bit flat, but not everyone has had as much practice with birdcalls as him. Setting the statue down and sheathing his knife, he cupped his hands to his mouth and responded in kind.

He was just about to stand when a ruffle of white at the corner of his vision caught his attention. He looked to the rock to see the seagull still there, looking at him in earnest. There was something almost human in its eyes. An unspoken intelligence, as if the bird knew more than it let on. For all his exasperation with gulls, he supposed he had grown rather fond of them as well. His days stationed in Boralus would be much too quiet without them. He wonders what surprises he might find if he spends more time getting to understand the creatures. Like a certain ex-pirate he knows.

**Author's Note:**

> I studied birds in university. Ask me anything about birds!


End file.
